


building blocks

by casdoms (moffwithhishead)



Series: dean has tattoos in canon don't @ me [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Found Families, M/M, Mentions of Possible Character Death, Parent Castiel (Supernatural), Parent Dean Winchester, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:36:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29788614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moffwithhishead/pseuds/casdoms
Summary: It’s not often that it happens, but it does happen.The first time it happens, Jody shows up at 1am with a 10 year old boy clinging to her legs.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Series: dean has tattoos in canon don't @ me [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2144487
Comments: 6
Kudos: 76





	building blocks

**Author's Note:**

> You don’t necessarily have to read “a map of who you are” to follow this, but context would probably be helpful :) set after chapter 22, but can also be read as a stand-alone. Warnings for a character disappearing, but Dean kinda reacts like they died. They didn’t.

It’s not often that it happens, but it does happen.

The first time it happens, Jody shows up at 1am with a 10 year old boy clinging to her legs. His name is Cody and his entire family was murdered by a vampire nest. Castiel takes his hand and walks him upstairs to what will be his room, if he wants it, talking quietly the whole time to him.

“He hasn’t said a word to me since I picked him up,” Jody confides in Dean, quiet enough that the kid won’t hear her.

Dean sighs, offering her a hug, “We’ve got him.”

* * *

The second time it happens, her name is Jasmine and she’s sixteen and yelling at Claire on the front porch. 

“I’m not a fucking kid!” She shrieks, struggling against Jack who’s holding her in place, “Let me help you, I can help you!”

Claire looks like she hates this, and Dean has never been more proud of her. 

“No,” Claire snaps, looking half a second away from running herself. “You ARE a kid, and you deserve to be a kid. We will find the demon who did this, and WE will make them pay.”

Jack tightens his arms around her so he’s more hugging rather than restraining her, “Jasmine, you’re not safe with us. Your parents would want you to be safe.”

She starts sobbing, and Dean has to step in, he can’t watch this anymore. 

“Hey,” he chides, gesturing for Jack to let go of her. He does, and Jasmine falls forward into Dean’s open arms. They wrap protectively around her, and he just lets her cry for a while. Jack and Claire leave in the middle of it, murmuring their apologies. Dean’s not sure if they’re apologizing to him or her, but it’s fine. 

“It’s not fair,” she eventually whimpers out when the sobbing turns into tired crying. “It’s not fair.”

“I know kiddo,” Dean promises her, sighing. “I know.”

* * *

The third time it happens, Dean comes home from a market run and Castiel is walking around the kitchen trying to soothe a crying baby. 

Jasmine’s watching from the table, eating her cereal with an amused look on her face, “I thought you said you were good with kids, Cas.”

He squints at her as they make another pass by the table, his ego clearly hurt, “Were you planning on actually assisting, Jas, or were you just going to let us both suffer?”

She grins, shrugging, “I think you’ve got a handle on it.”

Dean drops his bags on the counter, frowning, “Hey Cas?” He doesn’t bother waiting for an answer, “Where the hell did you get a baby?”

Castiel sighs, smiling tiredly (maybe a little apologetically too), “Jack stopped by.”

Normally Dean would push for more context but well, that does kind of explain everything. 

He holds his hands out, walking closer to them, “Hand the kid over, buddy, before he cries himself to death.”

It’s meant as a joke, but Castiel looks mildly horrified at the prospect. He does, however, hand the baby over, “Jack said that she’s experiencing colic and that she -“

The baby stops screaming the second she touches Dean’s chest. 

Cas glares at him, his arms immediately settling on the top of his head, “How did you do that?!”

Dean shrugs, smiling down at the angry little bundle in his arms as he bounces, “I dunno. Guess she just likes me.”

He goes over to the table, sitting across from Jasmine as a hand reaches out from the bundle, grabbing onto Dean’s finger. It’s the most incredible feeling he’s ever felt. 

“Well hello there sunshine,” Dean whispers, his other finger wiping the tears off of her cheeks. “It’s very nice to meet you. My name’s Dean.”

The kitchen is quiet for a minute, save for the tiny baby noises and Jasmine’s spoon occasionally clanging against the bowl. 

Dean looks up after a minute to ask Cas a question, and he’s a little stunned by what he sees. 

Castiel is wearing the most plain look of adoration and love, tears running down his cheeks. He looks beautiful in the evening sun that’s filtering through the kitchen window. It’s been years, and yet sometimes, it still knocks Dean off of his feet with how much he loves this man standing in front of him. 

“You okay there big guy?” Dean whispers, the baby starting to dose in his arms, never taking his eyes off of him. 

The smile he gets in return makes Dean feel lightheaded. “That’s a good look for you,” Castiel murmurs, walking over to them. He runs a hand through Dean’s hair for a moment before leaning down to kiss him. 

Dean grins into it, chuckling quietly, “Sap.”

Jasmine makes a quiet gagging noise, kindly keeping her voice very quiet. “You guys are gross.”

Dean just flips her off. 

* * *

The fourth time it happens, they almost say no. 

Jasmine moved out two years ago and she’s off at college. Cody is 15 now and he’s at that age where they kinda hate him, but not really. He’s just acting out. Josephine is 2 and beautiful, but she tries Dean’s patience everyday with her boundary testing. Her favorite word is no and she’s figured out how to throw things at them. Terrible two’s, indeed. 

But this time it’s Sam who’s trying to leave a baby in a basket on Dean’s front porch, so to speak. 

“Hey,” Dean greets him, startled. “I didn’t know you were coming up, man, I don’t really have any open rooms.”

Sam just smiles, tired, “Yeah, sorry, I...” He glances back at the car where Eileen’s waiting, “We didn’t know if we were coming here or not.”

There’s something going on, but Dean’s not really sure what it is. “Sam,” he starts, fully shutting the door behind him as he steps out. “What’s going on, man? You’re weirding me out.”

He seems to hesitate for a moment before shifting, finally shoving his hands in his pockets, “Just... come here.”

Sam practically hops off of the porch, taking the six stairs in two steps, and Dean just follows him, trying not to preemptively freak out. Eileen smiles at them when Sam opens the door, “Hey, Dean.”

He smiles and signs (he’s still awkward and clunky even after all this time), “Hey. What’s going on?” 

It takes her a moment, like she’s deciding if it’s the right thing to even do, and then Eileen steps out of the car. She gestures him forward, Sam not really meeting his eyes either, and Dean’s not a Hunter anymore, but his spidey senses are tingling. 

He leans down to look in the back of Sam’s truck and a familiar face is staring back at him. His eyes are big and glassy, his bottom lip wobbling, and he sniffles when he sees him, “Dean?”

It feels like his heart is crashing down around him. He doesn’t even think about it, he just sits down in the car and pulls the kid into the biggest, tightest hug. “Hey kiddo,” he whispers, pulling James close to his chest. “It’s okay, everything’s going to be okay.”

Sam wraps his arms around Eileen protectively, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. 

* * *

Later when James is passed out in Dean & Castiel’s room, the four adults stand around the island in the kitchen. Cas came home not long after Dean carried him inside, but it took the poor kid a couple hours before he let Dean go.

For his part, Dean’s just been trying to keep himself together.

“So,” Castiel starts, settling a hand on the nape of Dean’s neck. “What happened?”

Eileen swallows, tired, “We aren’t sure.”

Dean snorts, bitter, and trying to pretend he isn’t crying himself now. “What’s there not to be sure about? Either Charlie and Stevie are alive, or they aren’t. And since my godkid is passed out sleeping in our bed right now, I’m gonna go with they aren’t.”

Castiel squeezes his neck, trying to comfort him with touch but it isn’t really working.

He’s just mad.

It’s not like him and this Charlie were anywhere near as close as their Charlie, but once they got over that hill they got used to each other. They even eventually became honest to god friends, and yeah, it’s different than it was with their Charlie, but... she was still the closest person he had to a best friend. 

And it’s bullshit. It isn’t fair. Charlie wanted to get out of hunting, hell, she basically did, and she just, what? Fucking died?

Dean scrubs a hand over his face, trying very hard not to take it out on Sam and Eileen. “What happened?”

Sam sighs, crossing his arms over his chest, “We got a call from Charlie about a week ago. Said something weird was going on, needed our help. We got there and...” He shrugs, helpless, “Apartment was trashed, Charlie and Stevie were gone. We dug around the place to see if we could find any clues and Jimmy -“

“James,” Castiel corrects, his hand falling to Dean’s lower back. “He prefers James.”

Sam hesitates for a moment before nodding, “James came home in the middle of it. He was at a friend’s house. Didn’t see anything.”

“There was no EMF,” Eileen promises. “No sulfur, no signs of a struggle, no blood. Just...” She shrugs, words feeling emptier the longer they talk, “Gone.”

Dean sniffles, his hands coming up to brace himself on the counter, “I mean, did you look?”

The eye roll that gets from Sam is audible in the otherwise silent house, “Of course we did, Dean. We stayed there for almost a week poking around. There’s nothing.”

He hears his brother say something else, but Dean’s head is swimming and he just needs to not be there anymore. He pushes past them and out the back door, ignoring the three of them calling after him, and just keeps walking. He doesn’t stop until he’s standing half a mile away, the toes of his boots almost touching the water of their pond.

He drops onto the ground and he lets out an ‘oof’ noise at the impact; he’s going to be feeling that in the morning. He sure as shit isn’t 20 - or 40 - anymore.

Momentarily, he’s brought back to that night when he found their Charlie in that bathtub. He feels nauseous at the memory for lots of reasons, the biggest one being that that wasn’t her.

They just talked, too. For like two hours on FaceTime the other day, and had talked about summer vacation and the three of them coming out here and - 

“Fuck,” Dean laughs, crying openly now.

He hears crunching behind him and Dean groans, letting his head fall forward, “Go away, Sam, I don’t wanna talk right now.”

The foot steps don’t stop though, and then Cody drops down onto the ground next to him. He bumps their shoulders together, genuine concern bleeding through his voice, “What happened, Dean?”

Not for the first (or last) time, Dean feels like he’s been punched in the gut when he looks up and sees how big Cody is. How much he looks like a fully fledged adult, even with his dumb haircut that Dean hates.

He smiles, tired and a little broken, “Nothing you need to worry about, kiddo.” Dean wipes his face off and shrugs before looking out over the pond, “I’m okay. I’ll be okay.”

“That’s bullshit,” Cody presses, frowning at him. “Dude, I’ve known you for five years now and I’ve seen you cry twice. What’s wrong?”

Dean turns so he’s fully looking at him, his kinda son, and he swallows nervously. “Charlie and Stevie are...” His voice cracks, “Gone?”

Something in his chest wants nothing more than to snap and break and Dean won’t let it, not right now, not in front of him. He remembers when John cried and terrifying that was, even as an adult. He made a promise to himself that he wouldn’t let these kids down.

Cody frowns, considering the information, “Like... dead?”

He has to suck in some air at the question and it hurts, but Dean just smiles sadly, shrugging, “We don’t know, buddy.”

The two of them sit there in silence for a couple minutes, the only sound around them being the animals on the property. It’s almost peaceful, but Dean kinda just wants to break some shit. 

Long, gangly arms wrap around him from the side and Dean tries not to react too much. When he looks down, Cody’s got his head tucked up against Dean’s chest and he’s got a couple tear tracks on his cheeks. He immediately wraps him up in both of his arms, squeezing him protectively, “Thanks, kid. I really needed this.”

He doesn’t say anything, so Dean leans down and presses a kiss to the top of his head. “Love you kiddo.”

Cody snorts, turning his face more into Dean’s chest, “Love you too, dad.”

And oh, Dean is endlessly glad that Cody can’t see his face, because it looks like somebody just punched him. 

They never pushed that onto the kids - both him and Cas were very big on talking about their parents, on answering any questions they could and making sure they knew nobody had to call them dad. Cody did, though, up until a year ago when he decided that it was somehow Dean’s fault specifically that his whole family was killed by vampires. 

Cas and Cody have been thick as thieves from day one, and if Dean didn’t know any better he’d think that they were related by blood. They’re both grumpy shits in the morning, neither one of them knows how to clean up after themselves, they both have a flare for the dramatic and they both have the biggest hearts. And with Cody’s dark curly hair and bright blue eyes, well, people usually think that they are blood related. 

It’s always been a little harder with him and Cody, and Dean knows that the kid doesn’t really mean any of the shit that he says, but it doesn’t make it any easier to hear it. 

“Oh buddy,” he laughs, hiding his face in his hair for a moment. “You have no idea.”

* * *

“So,” Dean whispers as he and Cas crawl into bed. James is still conked out in the middle, and they both move extra carefully so as not to wake him up.

“So,” Castiel whispers back as he sets his glasses on the nightstand. “We have four kids, Dean.”

He smiles at Cas in the dark, chuckling a little bit when James’ tiny fist comes up to grab onto his shirt. “Yeah, I guess we do.”

His free arm reaches up above their heads, finding Castiel’s hand and twining their fingers together.

Castiel turns carefully so he’s staring at Dean, a tired smile on his face, “Sam and Eileen will find them. And if they don’t...” He squeezes Dean’s hand, “He’ll be safe here, with us.”

“Yeah...” Dean whispers before yawning, his own eyes drooping, “Thank you.”

A large, comforting hand reaches across and brushes a hair off of Dean’s face, “For what?”

“Doing all of this with me.”

One of the dogs yawns at the foot of the bed and Castiel chuckles, “Of course, Dean.”

**Author's Note:**

> Cody is 15 at the end of this, Jasmine is 21 at the end of this and away at college, Josephine (they call her Jo) is 2 and James is 5. He’s named after James Tiberius Kirk, because who else would Charlie name her kid after? 
> 
> (I just realized they have 3 j names 😂)


End file.
